Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-09-08
SERIOUS HUMORISTS.
THE MISFORTUNES THAT BEFELL
SAKE, BURDETTE AND BAILY.

Many of Our Most Popular Humorists
Write from a Heart Full of Sorrow
saxe's Sad Lot-Burdette's wife-Bai
ley's Heroic Devotion.
! have been impressed with the curious
fact that many of our most popular humor-
lists write from heart full of sorrow. They
are often men who have uncommon domes-
tic Affections 10 bear, such trials and troubles
as sometimes drive other men to drink, and
not few TO suicide. But the genuine hui
morist, like Goldsmith, or Tom Hood, or the
late John G. SAKE, or the unfortunate Arte-
mus Ward, is usually man of many sorrows,
who smiles IN spite of himself while looking
upon the dark side of life. l once lived in
New York in the same house in which Arte-
mus Ward boarded. 1t was very near what
was then known as st. Johns park, but
which is now the great Hudson River freight
depot Poor Ward, after giving brilliant
lecture up town, would return to his tempo
rary home, his pockets stuffed with money.
He would usually come home intoxicated and
throw himself upon the bed, after emptying
his pockets and scattering their contents over
the room. II don't care for money! he
would say. Il don't care for famel I am
the most miserable and unhappy of menr'
POETS SAD LOT.
The world knows of the misfortunes which
overwhelmed John G. SAKE, and how he lived
for years prey TO melancholy, the wreck of
a railway accident, and almost the only sur
vivor Of his once large and interesting family
l remember him well in his prime, when be
resided in a pretty brick cottage on Union
street, in the lovely little city of Burlington,
Vt Then he had a charming wife and
large family of children. He was in the best
of health, of perfect physical build, as tall
and handsome a fellow as one could wish to
see. He was at the height Of his fame as a
poet and a lecturer, and had nothing to do
but travel over the country and scoop in the
dollars" as Eli Perkins does NOWADAYS 1t
seemed as if fortune smiled upon SAKE, and
as if his days of joy and sunshine would
never end. l was & student in college then.
and 1 remember how used 20 envy him his
happy lot. The years flew swiftly by, and
time wrought sad havoc with the SAKE fam
lily, as well as with the genial poet himself
His wife died, and all of the children, save
one, followed her to the grave, victims of
consumption. l was at the wedding of one
of Mr. Saxe's sons, in New York city, when
he married a daughter of the late Judge
Sutherland In a few years both bride and
groom had passed away, and the parents on
both sides are now dead. Of the poets recent
death and its sad circumstances it is unneces-
sary to speak.
POOR BURDETTE'S WIFE.
The saddest case have heard of recentlyis
that of Bob Burdette. His young and hand
some wife became a dreadful sufferer from
rheumatism. Nothing gave her relief and
ell, InY1rr H.
reached such stage that she became terribly
deformed, and was really a frightful object
to behold. The skin was drawn tightly over
the bones of her face, and the flesh SO fell
away, she looked as if she had been burned,
and Il dreadful scar was the result. Her face
showed the bones as prominently as does
Cardinal Manning's today. Her hands grew
like birds claws, and she was unable to walk.
In time she became almost helpless, and could
only feed herself with the greatest difficulty.
This state of things continued for years. All
this time poor Burdette was the most patient.
loving and devoted of husbands. His af-
fections seemed to increase with his wife's dis
tress. He always spoke of her as cher serene
highnesS," and called their little boy ''the
prince" He used to dress his wife, comb
and arrange her hair, put bit of lace about
her neck, put on her lace mits, etc., and then
take her up in his arms and carry her wher-
ever she wished to go. At the table he cut
her food, helped her feed herself, and held the
cup or glass while she drank He never
seemed to notice her deformities, and was
always loving, kind and attentive. If they
passed the summer at the sea shore, he would
take her to the beach, find shady and re-
tired place, put her in a chair, arrange her
comfortably, and then, throwing himself
upon the sand, read to her for hours. And
SO he continued to love and cherish his wife,
until they were parted by death Many of
the brightest and most laughable of his con-
tributions to the press were written at the
bedside of his wife.
THE DANBURY NEWS MAN
]. NJ. Bailey, known as The Danbury
Conn News man, is another example of a
hrmorist who has more than his share of
trials. He is large, handsome man, with
black eyes and dark hair, now plentifully
sprinkled with gray. He lives very quietly
in Danbury, Conn, and is either always at
his little office on Main street, or at his mod
ern Iresidence, with its pretty green lawns
and bed of flowers. He never spends an
evening away from home, and has not been
outside of Danbury for years. His poor wife
has lost her reason and demands all of his at
tention. She thinks nobody in the world can
do anything for her except her husband. He
must dress her and arrange her hair, and at
tend to all her wants. She is like child, and
be gives her all of his affection, time and at
tention. His devotion is something heroic
and beautiful Upon one occasion, so the
people of Danbury say, she went to his office
and iasked him to do up her hair. 1t had
fallen down. He arranged it for her in the
pleasantest manner possible, did all she
asked without the least annoyance, and then
took her home. Such are the facts concern
ing some of our well known humorists
Many more about others might be given, but
we have enough to show that there is dark
as well as bright side to the life of those
who afford the public so much amusement
Fuller Walker in Kansas City Journal
Phi LII C<,oi